Singer Adds ‘Soul’ In Bid To Save 5 Pointz Building

Soul and blues singer Joss Stone recently joined in an effort to save the 5 Pointz Building from being demolished.
Stone is speaking out on Twitter, hoping to help a grass roots move to stop the owner of the iconic, graffiti-filled Long Island City building from tearing it down to develop two residential towers at the site.
Stone recently posted a link to an online petition started by Jonathan Cohen, founder of the 5 Pointz Coalition, asking people to support the move to save the building.
Members of the coalition who displayed their work on the 5 Pointz Building are backing the online petition, hoping to gather enough signatures to stop demolition of the urban art canvas.
The “Show Ur Love to 5Pointz” page at www.ipetitions.com has gathered more than 2,000 signatures from people protesting the demise of the building. One poster compared the building to the Sistine Chapel pleading with the building owner to “Find somewhere else!”
Stone tweeted, “It would be so sad to see this place die,” and noted she had filmed her music video, “Tell Me About It,” at the 5 Pointz Building.
Posters are also speaking their minds on Facebook, “Save 5 Pointz”, where more than 300 graffiti taggers are calling on building owner Jerry Wolkoff to halt his plan to raze the building.
Wolkoff told reporters that neighbors and community activists have been asking him for years to take down the building because it is an eyesore.
Wolkoff, who initially planned to develop two towers featuring 800 to 900 residential units at the site, has scaled back his plans after meeting with city planning officials. He has promised to allow local graffiti taggers to paint on a wall that will separate the two towers from the adjacent Long Island Rail Road station.
—Liz Goff